Midnight • (Zayn Malik)

spring break: arrival in London

One month later

I stretched out on my bed as far as my body would allow and curled my toes into the warm comforter. Late Wednesday mornings when I should actually be at school always treated me well. Opening my eyes, I was pleasantly welcomed with the lazy pattering of rain against my window. I lay there in my bed for a few minutes before realization hit me. It was only a matter of hours until I would be on my way to Europe with my best friends. With new excitement welling up inside of me, I reached for my phone and scrolled through the group message with just Monte, Sienna, Violet and I, and read through the conversation that was already going crazy as of fifteen minutes ago.

Violet Harmon: i kno i have so many clothes now from that shopping trip but i dont even kno wut to do w them all i need help

Monte Carlo: me too. i have so many options but my outfit maker in my head is proving useless ):

Surfer Sienna: i usually dont worry too much about what im wearing but this is freaking Europe!

Violet Harmon: Luna help SOS

Sienna: yes summon the moon child she will know what to do

Monte Carlo: Luna Luvgood ):

Violet Harmon: shes probs still asleep

Violet Harmon: get your lazy ass up!

I shook my head at them. So demanding. I guess I better give the people what they want.

Reply: chill guys lol im up

Reply: come over so we can all pack together and help each other with outfits

Monte Carlo: thank goodness

Violet Harmon: how am i supposed to bring my entire closet over

Reply: shove all the stuff ur thinking ab in ur suitcase and we'll figure it out

Surfer Sienna: already on it

I put my phone back on the charger and got out of bed, letting the cool air of my room wrap itself around my burning body. I went over to my closet and got a black and white polka dot scrunchie from the basket I had full of them and threw my hair up in a ratty ponytail. It's not like I was trying to impress these people. They knew what they signed up for when they became my friend.

As a group we decided to take one day off so that we could pack and then we would leave tomorrow. Even though spring break at our school didn't really start until Friday we felt as if Europe was a little more important than make-up work. We usually sat around watching movies in each class since the majority of third quarter tests were Monday and Tuesday anyway. We weren't too worried.

The last month had been crazy with planning. We didn't have a clue as to which places we were even going in Europe. We decided that the places we didn't get to we would just have to save for summer or our Senior spring break trip, who knows. After weeks of decision making we had an entire itinerary figured out in Violet's floral journal she had been saving for the day she went on a trip like this. She was a strange child. Which was exactly why she was part of this group. We also went on a little shopping trip where my mom casually handed me two grand to split between the seven of us. I secretly split it between eight because Zain looked like he could use another leather jacket or two. And God knows I didn't need that much money to buy even more clothes than I already owned. Or any money really, but my friends begged to differ.

On the side I was planning with Zain too. He insisted that he just wanted my help to buy the plane ticket and nothing more. He said something along the lines of not wanting to intrude on the weirdo clan. I told him he was a weirdo himself but he waved it away. So he was going to ride on his own plane straight to Bradford, England. I didn't have much fight in me to persuade him other wise. He was the keep-to-himself type and wasn't really friends with any of my friends. He was barely friends with me. He said he would visit London with his own friends though so maybe I would see him then. I couldn't complain. After all, the purpose of him going on this trip was to see his friends, not be dragged along with mine. So Zain would be dropped off by his mum at the airport and I guess if I saw him there then I'd say hello and if not then I'd just wish him a safe flight. Ignoring the weird empty feeling in my chest as best as I could, of course. Though I tried not to think about why it felt empty in the first place.